Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Cynthia Dill used the perfect word to describe a recent Republican-backed super PAC television ad promoting her candidacy: Cynicism.

On the airwaves in Maine of late is an ad touting Dill’s achievements, which ends by stating she is “a Democrat you can feel good about.” The ad was paid for by Maine Freedom, which is a political action committee registered in Washington.

The Bangor Daily News first reported the GOP connection, disclosing that the PAC’s treasurer is a man named Michael Adams, who is an attorney with the law firm Dinsmore & Shohl. The Republican Governors Association is one of his clients, according to RGA Communications Director Mike Schrimpf, but the RGA has no affiliation with the Maine Freedom PAC, he said.

Adams used to work for the Republican State Leadership Committee. He told The Associated Press,  however, that Maine Freedom is a bipartisan coalition of “people who live in Maine or love Maine or both.”

The group released a statement, part of which the AP printed, saying, “We want Mainers to know the facts about the records and positions of their U.S. Senate candidates. Candidates themselves are highly self-interested, and cannot usually be counted on to provide unbiased accounts of their records. In this very positive ad, we are providing accurate information that we believe many Mainers might be unaware of.”

But the only “self-interest” here is on the part of Maine Freedom.

It is clear that the GOP-associated PAC is hoping to siphon votes from independent candidate Angus King to help bolster Republican nominee and Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers. King had a clear lead in the most recent public poll. According to Portland-based Critical Insights, a poll in late June showed King with 55 percent of support, while Summers had 27 percent and Dill was favored by 7 percent of respondents.

This kind of tactic is politics at its worst, and exactly the kind of maneuvering of which Americans say they are fed up. The motive behind this ad is cynical, because it stands on the belief that by bringing one man down ”“ King ”“ another will benefit ”“ Summers.

What Americans have been longing for is honesty, integrity and positivity from our legislators and candidates. If members of the GOP were confident in Summers, they would run ads simply stating his accomplishments ”“ as would Democrats for their candidates and other groups backing advertisements this election season. But the name of the game, as usual, is dragging others down.

It is unfortunate, and we want it to stop.

In a statement this week, Dill said, in part, “”¦ my strongest opponent seems to be fear. ”¦ A new TV ad sponsored by a GOP super PAC cynically feeds into that fear.”

Fear should not be a tool deployed by any campaign, and cynicism should not fuel those working to get their candidates elected.

PACs and super PACs have only led to confusion among voters and the outright buying of elections by the highest bidders. Pay-to-play politics used to mean illegal acts of bribery and back-scratching by those in power and their largest campaign contributors, but now it is a legal part of politics, with the richest people in this country free to pour as much money as their hearts desire into advertisements, signs and other campaign tools to boost their candidates and drag the others through the mud.

It’s a sad state we’re now in, and the only way to stop out-of-state money from flooding our elections would be for the Supreme Court to overturn its 2010 “Citizens United” decision, which allows PACs to take in unlimited contributions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with candidates.

Only one thing is clear at this point: What’s happening is confusing, cynical and divisive, and something’s got to change.